


Ode to Lost Dreamers

by HARUBI



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Audric the next Ash Ketchum, Cookie the Alolan Raichu, Ender the next Hau, Gen, Gym leader!Levi, How Do I Tag, I don't know how to tag this, I promise you two will be more prominent characters in the sequel, Light Angst, Lucy the Lucario, Melancholy, Or so I've been told, Puddle the Greninja, Romeo the Florges, Row-Bro the Decidueye, Scarlett the Pidgeotto, Shitter the Talonflame, This will have a sequel, Trainer!Eren, Trainer!Petra, best pokemonfic ever, that one's probably gonna be just as catastrophic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 11:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10740888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HARUBI/pseuds/HARUBI
Summary: “You know how to turn on the lights, stupid, why do you sit in the dark like that?”He asked her accusingly, but he knew exactly why. The piles of boxes filling up the corner of the living room was a sore sight that tightened his throat and ached his heart every evening. Even now, two years later, he couldn’t bring himself to call the local donations center to come pick them up.His mother would have scolded him for untidiness if she were here to see it. He wished she would scold him once more.





	Ode to Lost Dreamers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChromeHoplite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChromeHoplite/gifts).



> It has been a long time coming, but I am finally posting something again. I could not do this if I had not met ChromeHoplite, who has given me the seeds to birth this story. (That is an awkwardly lewd phrasing of words..) I was only able to finish this because you kept encouraging me to write despite everything, so for that I will be forever thankful.   
> Audric and Ender, you have my heartfelt gratitude for all the inspiration you have given me to complete this story, and I promise the sequel will be our next collaborative masterpiece!

A low croon welcomed Levi as he opened the door to a dark living room, the sun having set hours ago.

“Hey Scarlett,” his muffled voice greeted the Pidgeotto, who was nuzzling her head into his undercut. She responded with a low rumble, nipping lightly at his earlobe, before stepping away to let him in. Scoffing in feigned annoyance, he flicked on the lights as he toed off his shoes.

“You know how to turn on the lights, stupid, why do you sit in the dark like that?”

He asked her accusingly, but he knew exactly why. The piles of boxes filling up the corner of the living room was a sore sight that tightened his throat and ached his heart every evening. Even now, two years later, he couldn’t bring himself to call the local donations center to come pick them up.

His mother would have scolded him for untidiness if she were here to see it. He wished she would scold him once more.

A peck at the top of his head broke Levi out of his thoughts, and, pressing his hand over the pendant over his chest, he turned away from the boxes, heading over to the kitchen. Dinner was long overdue for his lonely companion.

 

Scarlett, his mother’s old Pidgeotto, was named after her favorite classical movie protagonist, Katie Scarlett O’Hara, whose life was a whirlwind of romance and pokemon adventure. Kuchel, his mother, had none of those. She was a sick single mother who mostly relied on welfare and Levi’s battle winnings for support, and Scarlett was her sole company in Laverre City while Levi was away. She never told him how she’d met her old companion, but the bird pokemon was with her for as long as Levi could remember, and she refused to leave her side, stubbornly conveying her intention to never evolve until Kuchel recovered.

So Levi wasn’t surprised when Scarlett refused to leave home when Kuchel left for the hospital and never returned. In the beginning, Levi stayed with her, locking all the doors, unplugging all devices, only his pokemon and Scarlett for company. He couldn’t sustain the house without income, though, so begrudgingly, he went back out for battles, though he never left town again.

It was through Erwin’s suggestion that he went for the interview to take over the Laverre City Gym, even though Levi barely had any fairy pokemon. His Gardevoir and Florges were just about all he had, and they didn’t even really enjoy battling. The only other fairy he had was a Klefki, and she only knew moves that were ghost or steel type. So his passing the interview and inheriting the gym was probably all due to the seductive beauty of his Gardevoir and Florges, if anything. Certainly, his pale skin and sunken eyes could not have done it.

It made things easier for him, definitely, now that that he had a steady income without needing to leave town. He could care for his home and his mother’s Pidgeotto without having to go too far away, and he could still battle. He could still train. And that routine worked for them, for a while.

 

“You need to eat more,” Levi urged, nudging Scarlett’s bowl closer towards her. She flew over to the other end of the room, onto her perch beside the window, where she could watch the street outside. It pained Levi to watch her watching the pedestrians outside, waiting for Kuchel to return even though she knew it wouldn’t happen. Scarlett was his mother’s pokemon, but she was also his oldest friend, as well as his caretaker in throughout his childhood. He didn’t want her falling sick, but she’s been eating less and less, and it worried him.

“Come on,” Levi called out towards the bird again, “Please just eat a few more bites. I promise that’s all you need to do. Please?”

Scarlett watched him warily, before fluttering back off her perch to peck some more at her bowl. Levi released a breath of relief, assuring himself that it was simply a lack of appetite, and not anything more serious. Her wings seemed in balance today, too.

 

While most gyms in the region stayed open nearly all day (and all night long, in Lumiose’s case), Levi could not afford to keep his home unattended for so long, especially with a Pidgeotto that refused to do anything but watch the window, and a home that grew increasingly untidy, despite his best efforts. He spent the morning massaging old Scarlett’s wings and legs with Petra’s herbal oils so that they don’t cramp up with lack of exercise while he was away. Her arthritis made it difficult for strenuous activity, but the lack of it wasn’t helping either. When he was done with that, he spent whatever time he had left doing the odd laundry or dusting out the rooms. Laverre City Gym did not open until noon. And even then, usually Petra was the one who opened the doors, allowing trainers to warm up while Levi made his way over.

It was no unusual sight to see idiot trainers lingering around the front door when he arrived at the gym while it was still locked, but this was the first time he’d found a semi-nude man sleeping in front of his door, stinking of alcohol. He was sleeping so soundly, sprawled out on top of his own sleeping bag with a Toxicroak tucked under his armpit, that Levi almost doubted the current temperature of the weather, which was enough to have everyone wearing a thick jacket at least, if not a scarf on top of that. It wasn’t going to snow, but it was damn close to raining, by the sight of the dark thunder clouds gathering above them.

“Hey,” Levi tried, awkwardly nudging the young man with the toe of his training sneakers, “Hey, asshole, wake up.”

The man did not move, and Levi hoped he wasn’t dead. He didn’t know what he’d do with Scarlett if he had to go to jail as a suspect in this guy’s death.

“Hey Gloom Face,” he tried again, kicking harder at the man’s arm. The second time must have been painful enough because the man suddenly sat up with a grunt, squinting. He mumbled something, like “olollo”, patting his Toxicroak awake as he wiped at his mouth, much to Levi’s disgust, then mumbled some more, looking up at him.

“Huh?” was all the response Levi could muster.

Even in his sloppy fashion as a homeless man taking refuge in front of his gym doors, the man was attractive. Tan skin wasn’t a rarity in this region, as most people tan up near Cyllage City cycling by the beach or climbing the rocks, but this man’s tan skin was a different sort, like one whose skin was not only kissed by the sun, but also embraced by the oceans. And if his tanned and toned body did not show it, his squinting eyes did, as green and sparkling as the shimmering reflections of sunlight against the rippling grooves of the ocean waves. It took Levi’s breath away, having never seen any pair of eyes so mesmerizing as those.

“I said, is the gym opening today?”

Levi clamped his mouth shut and simply nodded, the deep vibrations of the man’s voice ringing in his ears. Erwin had an attractive voice, and Levi could appreciate its deepness while also hating the sly blond lump of muscle, but this man’s voice had a softness in tone that let it pierce its vibrations straight into Levi’s unprepared heart. It was a very nice voice, and Levi found himself even appreciating the unusual lilt at the end. Not that he was going to let the stranger know.

He put all his focus onto his hand holding the keys, stiffly waiting as the bedraggled man scrambled to get out of the way before shoving the key into the lock to open it. It was always awkward, having a trainer breathing down his neck as he opened the doors, so he usually just disregarded them. This guy, though, loudly yawning and groaning and shuffling around, was about as ignorable as a Wailord trying to fly. Levi just huffed in annoyance, pushing open the doors.

He released Shitter, his Talonflame, into the gym to scan the grounds from above for routine inspection as he made his way towards his floor by foot, jogging along with his Lucario as a means to keep somewhat in shape while working in the gym. The two were companions he could not use in actual battle, but they were some of his longest friends in his journey as a trainer, and it didn’t feel right for him to take part in any battle without them by his side.

“So, are you the gym leader?” Levi nearly stumbled in surprise at the voice of the man so close to him, now wearing a blinding flower print shirt, easily matching pace with his jog, his unrolled sleeping bag fluttering behind him. His Toxicroak was hopping beside him, yawning. Given his very unfashionable outfit, he had obviously been to many other regions, probably even some that Levi hadn’t even heard about. It made him envious of his youth and his travels. It’s been two years since Levi had last left the town, and despite his best efforts, he knew he was getting rusty in both battling skills and exercise. His breaths were much more ragged than the other man’s, and that guy should have been suffering with a hangover by the stink of it.

“Yeah,” Levi all but gasped, staring at the back of Lucario’s head to keep his focus. He felt like his heart was beating faster than it should, making him more out of breath than usual.

“Cool. Mind if I jog with you?”

Levi stopped, panting, and turned on the guy.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The man smiled, cocking his head a bit in confusion.

“Um, jogging with you?”

“No. I mean, do you think you’re excused from the training regime just because I’m the only one here right now?”

The man looked really confused. And now that Levi thought about it, his accent was sort of weird too.

“Where are you from?”

“Iki Town!” He stated proudly. Levi didn’t know where that was.

“And where is that?” He asked when the man didn’t seem to have any intention of elaborating.

“On Melemele Island. Alola Region, if you didn’t know.”

Levi didn’t know. He hadn’t gotten that far in his travels, especially since that region was too far for him to feel comfortable leaving behind his sick mother. And now… He couldn’t leave Scarlett behind again.

“Don’t you have gyms there? You don’t know how this works? Haven’t you been to the other gyms yet?”

“Oh, we only have island trials. It would hurt the pokemon homes if we tried to build so many buildings,” he shrugged, fiddling with the strap of his sleeping bag. Levi resisted the urge to grab it from him and roll it up himself.

“And the other gyms were sort of lenient, i guess?”

“Oh,” Levi responded lamely. Trainers shouldn’t be allowed leniency, in his opinion, but somehow it felt like that comment was an indirect way of reminding him about how stiff and boring he was.

“Well, the way a gym works here is that you have to go through the trainers’ regime in the floors below. Only when you pass, you’re allowed to come up to battle me.”

The man scrunched his nose.

“That’s kind of lame,” he said, “Don’t you get lonely waiting for people?”

He did, but Levi had never thought of it that way before. So he just shrugged as a way of response, turning away from him. His Lucario was waiting for him a few steps above, impatiently hopping back and forth.

“Well, those are the rules, so go back down, kid.”

And before the man could follow him up again, Levi over-paced himself and ran up the rest of the way to his floor, collapsing as soon as he reached the top. His Lucario tossed him a spare towel sympathetically.

“Like you’re not old too, Lucy,” he wheezed, and earned a Seismic Toss. Shitter shrieked in glee as he circled above him, whiffs of fiery flashes the only evidence that his Talonflame was still laughing at him.

 

Other than his trainers coming up to greet him before they got to work, Levi did not meet another person for the rest of the week. The Sableye Freak foreigner never made it to his level, and Levi wasn’t going to admit he was disappointed. He spent his hours with his pokemon out on the field, doing sparring practice against each other, practicing new strategies… But they were more or less the same routine he’d been doing since he’d taken over the gym last year. And after the brief conversation with the foreign drunkard, he couldn’t help thinking about how lonely it really was. Petra and Oluo were always on the floors below, constantly battling and training with other visitors, but not all of them reached his floor. His pokemon were always left to train with each other, and by now, even Romeo, his dramatic diva Florges, knew enough of Lucy’s habits to know exactly which attacks she was about to do. It didn’t make for good training when they knew each other too well to properly fight.

 

Levi had snuck down a few times to get a glimpse of the foreign man. His Toxicroak was as strong as it had seemed the first time, its Belch as effective as it was sickening. The man seemed to get a lot of enjoyment watching his training partners recoil in disgust. The only other pokemon Levi had managed to get a glimpse of was a pokemon he did not recognize, a grass pokemon, by the looks of it. It was tall, with a leafy hood over its head to shadow its face. The mysterious pokemon had not been in action at the time, so Levi could not tell if the gleaming sandy draping covering its body was a protective cloak of some sort, or wings. He supposed it could be wings, noting the tiny glimpse of talons for feet. Having spent so many years with Scarlett, he had developed a knack for noticing talons at the barest of glances. The pokemon, as mysterious as it was, was also very majestic, standing tall and proud, its shadowed gaze scanning the room even while its owner chatted away with his training partner. Nothing seemed to faze it in the least, and even when it seemed to notice Levi leaning against the railing of the stairs in the shadows, it merely stared back, as though daring him to come down, and face him, and battle him. Levi wished he could. He so, so wished he could go down and learn what this mysterious new pokemon was, where it came from, how it battled… But he couldn’t, so he slunk back upstairs, forcing Romeo to quit grooming his floral fashion to run through some battle tactics again.

 

All week long, Levi couldn’t shake off the trembling of his nerves, itching for battle… For a proper, adrenaline-rush and sweat, satisfactory battle. The foreign man and his mysterious pokemon had reminded him of the thrill battles used to give him, of how stifling the routine of the gym was for what he used to be… What he wanted to become. So on his way back home, Levi stopped by the Pokemon Center, picking up Puddle, his starter pokemon. After he’d put his name down as another champion of the Kalos League, he almost never let Puddle back into his party, mostly out of his desire to train others and hone his skills. After his mother passed away, he avoided letting his oldest and closest friend back into his party, simply because he didn’t want to be reminded of what he was leaving behind by accepting a new post as the new Laverre City gym leader.

 

Levi made a little detour down a small path just before the final bend towards home, heading into the familiar swampy area near the abandoned cabin where he used to train with Puddle before he’d left town. He silently prayed that Scarlett would be forgiving of a late dinner, and hoped that she wasn’t waiting too long for him.

 

He clicked open the pokeball as he reached the small clearing, eyes stinging at the familiar face that stared back at him.

“It’s been a while, old friend.”

The dark Greninja crossly responded with a squirt of water, but eagerly hopped into Levi’s open arms anyways. He was just as averse to physical displays of emotion as Levi to do something sappy like crying and whining, so his tight hug said it all.

“I missed you too, Puddle,” Levi responded, wrinkling his nose and shuddering at the abomination of his nicknaming skills.

“Anyways, how about we spar like old times? You must be tired of all those virtual training sessions, right?”

Puddle rumbled out a low croak, a mischievous glint to his eyes the only warning before he hopped up high and shot out a strong hydraulic spray of water to all the trees in front of him. Almost immediately, dozens of red eyes angrily glared back at them, buzzing with fury as all the usual variety of resident pokemon came dashing out towards them.

“That’s more like it.”

Gym battles had nothing on a real and raw fight for survival against a horde of wild pokemon with unpredictable attacks. Levi almost couldn’t suppress a smile as he watched a den of Ekans came slithering out with poisonous glares, with some equally angry Haunters and Goomy and Quagmires following right behind them.

“Let’s warm up with water gun!”

Levi expertly dodged a few Haunter swooping down towards him as Puddle leaped from tree to tree, hitting the horde with a shot of water straight to their faces. That attack, weak as it was, only served to make the wild visitors angrier than they already were, and that was exactly what they wanted. It was their first fight in a long while, and would be no fun to end it before they’ve stretched out a few of their stiff muscles.

“Now, Shit #2!”

Back when Levi was still a young trainer, he and Puddle had created secret battle plans and code words together, in the silly hopes that by putting code names on them, nobody would know what they were actually planning. They rarely used it by the time they’d trained enough to reach the League, but it was still something like a secret game between the two.

Puddle jumped off of the tree he’d been perched on, and landed on the exposed roots of the stump, leaping around the Ekans from root to root as he sped around the circumference of the clearing they’ve unofficially claimed as the battle ground. The soil was too muddy and soft for the Ekans to slither quickly enough, and some of the Quagmires just settled on sending blasts of water and mud to wherever they thought Puddle might be. Just as they’d planned, Puddle’s agility helped to tire out most of the crowd, confusing them to hit one another in their chase to attack the swift Greninja.

By the time Levi and Puddle had exercised several more secret forms, most had fled the scene, and anyone left standing were quickly rendered unconscious with a single Water Shuriken to their heads in the end. Puddle looked exhausted, but totally sated, and Levi, also breathing as hard as his pokemon, felt more refreshed than he had in a long time.

“Wow.”

Instinctively, Levi whirled around and Puddle shot a Water Shuriken to the direction of the voice, narrowly missing the untidy mop of brown hair of the green eyed man from that afternoon. He was more modestly dressed this time, much too obvious that someone else had picked his outfit for him. His polo shirt was well pressed, he had on a decent jacket with a hood, and he looked like Erwin when he was still in school and his mother dressed him. He was also smiling really widely, almost creepily, approaching Levi with an excited flail of limbs.

“Wow, I mean… Wow. Your Greninja is amazing, I don’t know how he can just flip like that, and the strength of those moves were just phenomenal, and even that Water Shuriken was so beautiful-“

Puddle straightened up smugly and practically purred at the surge of compliments.

“What are you doing here, anyways?” Levi interrupted, glancing at his watch. It was already well past the time he usually made dinner for Scarlett, and he really should be heading back now, he thought.

“Oh! I followed you. Petra said I can’t fight you yet, but I wondered if you will anyways.”

“Of course not, you Ratatta-brained imbecile,” Levi retorted, brushing past the man to get out of the clearing and back onto the main road towards home, “If Petra says no, it’s a no.”

She was practically the unofficial gym leader, and Levi had suggested to her several times to try setting up a gym of her own over in Geosenge Town, where she was from. It was a pretty huge tourist town, so she wouldn’t have any trouble getting the gym started, but she refused, saying she was tired of all the rocks in the area. Indeed, her pokemon of choice were all manner of small and cute, nothing as bulky and huge as an Onix.

The man hummed in response, following behind him, completely disregarding the insult. He’d already won Puddle over, easily petting the top of his head without receiving a slap of water in return, as was usually the case. Erwin had once lied to people for days that he’d broken up with a girlfriend he never had, all because the slap of water had bruised his cheek red and blue. That was probably one of the few times anyone ever saw Levi laughing out loud.

“My town only has island trials, where we only have to show our strength by completing the trials given to us by the kahuna, before we can battle the kahuna and earn our stamp of completion. The trials are nothing like these ‘regimes’ you do, just fun things, like helping out with pokemon habitats or looking for ingredients in the jungles… That kind of stuff.”

That was a whole new method of approaching gym battles that Levi’s never even heard of, and by the looks of it, it’s not even really a proper gym set-up. The way this man described it, the trials sounded like a local volunteering tradition more than a training system. It sounded so different, and Levi wished he could imagine how this man’s world looked like. He wished he could see the islands he grew up on… But it was wishful thinking, and it was better to push the thoughts out of his head before they rooted themselves down.

“Wow,” Levi responded simply, unable to put words to the conflicted feelings he felt.

“The badges you get in your gyms are nice, though. Very durable and shiny. I dropped my stamp book in the water too many times, and had to do the trials again because the ink washed off. Hala laughed at me so much for that… He’s my island kahuna, though his grandson’s probably gonna take over soon. They’re still waiting for Tapu Koko’s blessing, but it shouldn’t be long.”

Whatever this man was saying, Levi couldn’t fully understand. Kahuna? Tapo what?? Stamps for badges??? But it sounded like such a whole new world, so different from what he was used to. He found his heart lurching the same way it did when he had first finished the Kalos League and was preparing to leave for the region of Sinnoh, except this time he couldn’t even begin to imagine what would be waiting for him in this new region. Wait. ‘Waiting for him’?? No, no way, Levi wasn’t going to be able to go there.

Puddle, somehow sensing his internal distress, hopped up to him and gave him a slight nudge on his arm. His old friend still knew how to read him like a book, it seemed. Levi took a deep breath and nudged him back, letting him know that he was okay.

“Your Raichu in this region are very unusual,” The man obliviously continued as they reached the main road, “They don’t surf like the ones from my home.”

Levi scoffed at the absurdity.

“Raichu, surfing? Sure, if they run fast enough, maybe they can skim over the surface of the water for a bit, but I wouldn’t call that surfing.”

The man stopped in his tracks, suddenly shuffling through the pockets of his knapsack with a knowing grin.

“I wouldn’t call that surfing, either. But my Raichu really surfs!”

Levi found that hard to believe. What in the world would a Raichu want to do out in the waters anyways, besides electrocute the whole population of annoying Tentacool lurking just under the surface?

The man finally found what he was looking for, clicking open the pokeball before it even came out of his bag. And standing there, or rather, surfing, in front of Levi, to his absolute horror and fascination, was a pokemon that looked remarkably like a Raichu, but different. This ‘Raichu’, with eyes as blue as ice, was standing on his tail, thick and flat like a surfboard, rocking back and forth in the air, levitating itself. Since when was a Raichu able to use psychic abilities???

“What the fuck…?”

“He surfs, right?” The man smugly smiled, leaning back as his Raichu floated around, exploring its surroundings, “Cookie here loves to catch the waves, and we often surfed together back home.”

Levi was amazed. Was this the kind of pokemon this strange man had grown up with? What other strange pokemon existed there?

“Whadda- What about that other pokemon you have, the one with a hood?”

Levi embarrassingly stuttered in his excitement to ask a million questions at once. He was so curious, and now that the man was standing right there in front of him, with all the answers in his hand, Levi couldn’t stop himself.

“Oh, you mean Row-Bro? He’s my starter pokemon! I didn’t even know you’d seen him…”

It wasn’t a question, so Levi didn’t bother to explain, just grimaced at the very tasteful nickname he’d given such a majestic looking creature. The Asshole pulled out another pokeball and released the mysterious creature.

“He’s a Decidueye, a grass and ghost type. Bro and I’ve been through everything together, so I never leave him behind.”

Puddle hummed beside Levi, giving him a sulky jab in the rib, effectively guilt-tripping him. Row-Bro seemed to have taken an immediate interest in his Greninja, hooting lowly as his eyes seemed to slightly glow from under his hood, watching Puddle intensely.

“He’s fucking beautiful,” Levi all but whispered, watching Bro extend its wing (a wing! Not a sparkling sand colored cloak!) towards Puddle in greeting.

Puddle, of course, being his usual prickly self, hopped away and tossed a Water Shuriken in Bro’s direction instead. Row-Bro easily avoided it, however, flapping himself away from the Shuriken as he curled his wing upwards with his hood vine in hand, transforming his beautiful tan wing into a bow. With a leafy arrow in hand, Row-Bro shot right back at Puddle, who leaped away into the shadows, the low glimmer of his eyes the only indication to where he was. And then, as though they had a silent mutual understanding of some sort, the two of them began to hop from tree to tree, sparring with shurikens and arrows.

“Your Greninja really is nimble. Bro doesn’t really like moving much, see? He likes to stand in one place to shoot his enemies down before they even reach sparring distance.”

“Those arrows are amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Levi rambled, his excitement taking over once more, “I’ve never seen a more beautiful shade of tan on feathers before, and the way his wings arch, the focus of his gaze, it’s just…”

Eren chuckled, and Levi clamped his mouth shut, suddenly aware of how loudly he’d been talking. He’d told himself he wasn’t going to be interested in this strange region, since he couldn’t even leave, but in the mere five seconds it took him to see the strange Raichu and Decidueye, his resolve left like it had never been there at all. Levi wanted to go there, he needed to go there. This small town of Laverre, surrounded by swamps and forests, was so stifling, so boring. If not for Scarlett, he’d be out of it in a heartbeat…

“Scarlett,” Levi muttered, head whipping back away from the sparring pokemon to the path he’d been on.

“Who?” The man asked, confused, but Levi didn’t bother to answer. He was so distracted by this man’s stories that he’d almost forgotten about his precious friend. With a string of curses under his breath as he gathered his pokemon and a hasty farewell to the man, he ran down the street, all the way back to his house.

 

The old Pidgeotto was beside herself by the time Levi managed to get the door open. Scratching him with her talons, Scarlett pounced on him, flapping her wings angrily, pulling at his clothes to check for injuries.

“I’m okay, Scarlett, I’m sorry, I just-“

Scarlett was hearing none of it. She continued to screech wildly, completely livid and unable to contain herself, flailing around angrily. It didn’t help that Levi had mud all over himself from the battle in the forest, reeking of all sorts of wild pokemon’s scents. She flew around the small room, knocking over lamps and cups, hitting her wings on all the furnitures as she cried and screamed.

“What’s going on- Are you okay?”

The sight of the stranger so casually walking into their home only agitated Scarlett more, and she flung herself at the man, screeching her throat hoarse.

“Scarlett, stop- He’s a friend- Wait-“

Levi tried to pull her away, but she was too strong, especially in that enraged state. He was worried she would hurt her wings even more with her outburst, not to mention the stranger who’d followed him home. He worried that something worse may happen from this, not just damaged wings. He didn’t want her to die.

Scarlett’s talons tangled itself with the man’s jacket, tragically tearing it apart, and Levi panicked, thinking she was going to really kill this man in their home, and she’d be determined to be unstable and euthanized while Levi went to jail for life for murder, and-

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not here to do anything,” The man cooed, unfazed by the useless fabric hanging off of his shoulders and the bloody gash on his arm, barely flinching as the sharp nails of Scarlett’s talon clamped down onto his arm. Levi was in no better state himself, his own sweater torn and arms with multiple shallow gashes, but his heart sank at the realization that Scarlett had actually hurt someone.

“It’s okay, beautiful, I just want to be your friend. Scarlett, was it? My name is Eren, and I’m Levi’s friend.”

Only now did Levi realize he never knew the foreign man’s name, so naturally calling him ‘Asshole’ and ‘Sableye Freak’ in his mind.

“I won’t hurt you,” Eren murmured, one arm braced against the talons puncturing his skin, the other slowly reaching up to stroke the side of Scarlett’s throat. His strength must have been incredible, being able to hold his ground as the angry Pidgeotto pushed and pulled against him.

Levi stroked the other side of her throat, turning her face so she looked at him.

“I’m safe, Scarlett, I really am. Just let go of this man’s arm, please? You’re hurting him.”

She let go, but didn’t seem to have any plans of calming down, huffing and puffing as she stomped around the house, knocking things over with her twitching wings as she shot one shrill cry after another at Levi’s face. He really fucked up, he knew, and apologized to the foreign man once more, leading him to a fairly safer corner of the sofa as he pulled out his Holo Caster.

“Bring some of your herbal ointments for cuts, and that one chamomile shit you rub onto Scarlett’s wings,” Levi started without a greeting as soon as Petra’s face popped up into the screen.

“What have you been do- Who is that?”

The foreign man was staring over his shoulder, eyes wide and jaw hanging open. Sighing, Levi scooted away a bit, just narrowly avoiding a gust attack to his face as he stared back into the Caster.

“Just come, okay?”

He cut off the communication before she could say anything more, and went over to get some towels.

“What the hell was that?! Why was Petra in there??”

“The Holo Caster?” Levi retorted incredulously. What the fuck was wrong with his region? How the hell did they not hear of a Holo Caster?? And fucking stamps for badges… Who even did that?

“That’s what it’s called? What is that?”

“Oh fucking ball sacs, this is getting ridiculous.”

Levi shook his head, filling up a tin bucket with hot water from the kitchen sink. He was not going to spend the next hour educating this country bumpkin about the ways of the modern world. How did one even explain a Holo Caster, anyway?

Scarlett, having expended most of her energy by now, panted as she sat perched on her usual spot by the window, pointedly keeping her back turned to him. She rarely ever got this furious and out of hand, the only other time having been the week when his mother never came back home. And Levi, despite his efforts to keep calm, had to grip the edges of the counter top he leaned against because his legs were shaking and his hands trembling.

The door opened, and Petra walked in, her steps pattering on the floor in an endearingly poor attempt at stomping and looking angry. She definitely could not do the angry look if she tried with all the luck amulets in the world.

“Help me massage her wings, will you?”

She dumped her huge duffel bag onto the sofa, smiling in greeting at the guest.

“Eren! So it was you in the Caster!”

Eren gawked.

“How did you go from there to here?”

Pulling out some towels of her own and a bottle of ointment from her bag, she shrugged.

“Well, I do live next door, and I could hear Scarlett throwing a fit, and-“

“You know how to shrink???”

“What?”

“He doesn’t know what a fucking Caster is,” Levi grunted, setting the steaming bucket beside her as he went to bring Scarlett back to the middle of the room for treatment. She pecked him instead, screaming shrilly at his face once more.

“Fucking damn it,” Levi rubbed morosely at his arm, bruised by her beak. “Petra??”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it, you little baby. Just sit down, will you?”

She wiped down Eren’s arm swiftly, putting on some herbal muck that Eren grimaced at. Levi begrudgingly stepped away from Scarlett, who glared him down until he got far enough for her satisfaction.

“Man, you should meet Mikasa. She’s crazy about herbal remedies too.”

“Ooh, your girlfriend?”

In several quick swoops, Petra had Eren’s arm bandaged, tutting at the state of his torn jacket, handing him another small bottle of something Levi knew would taste like Primape’s piss.

“No, my sister. She’s studying pokemon medicine.”

“Here, drink this and you won’t get a fever later,” She told him before giving him a friendly pat on his head and getting up to talk to Scarlett. She was so used to taking care of other pokemon and children that it’s become a habit of hers to pat people’s heads. She probably didn’t even know she did it anymore.

Eren downed the drink in one gulp, and grimaced. Levi almost grimaced with him, knowing all too well how that tasted.

“Ew, what the hell was that? That’s almost worse than any Tauros shit Mikasa’s forced on me!”

Petra greeted Scarlett, who screeched angrily back. Levi was only relieved that she’d calmed down enough to stop herself from lashing out at Petra too. After a few more muffled exchanges and screeches, Petra returned to the sofa, Scarlett hopping over to sit beside her. The angry bird pointedly swished her tail against Eren’s face, who spluttered and only chuckled at her attitude.

“I’m really sorry,” Levi apologized once more to him. He felt like he’d apologized a lifetime’s worth just in that evening.

“It’s really alright,” He responded brightly, getting up as Petra stretched out Scarlett’s wings, “I’m really sorry I kept you too long. I didn’t know you had someone waiting for you.”

It wasn’t really Eren’s fault that Levi came home later than usual, but Levi didn’t say anything. The day had drained him of all the energy he had left, and remembering the man’s unusual pokemon only sucked out more of it, leaving him with unwanted emotions. The image of that unusual Raichu and the majestic Decidueye was now an everlasting reminder of the life he’d wanted and no longer could have. He didn’t want to be jealous, but he was. He didn’t want to feel these dark feelings of anger towards Scarlett, but he did. He didn’t want to blame his mom, but…

“I’ll be going, then. Mikasa’s probably waiting for me.”

“Ooh, wait, Eren! Take an extra vial of this, and my card. It has my Caster ID on it so you can call me if anything comes up! And maybe your sis and I can exchange formulas or something, too!”

“Uh, we don’t really have one of those, but thanks!” The man, accepting her vial, grinned as he headed out. And with him, Levi decided he needed to rid his head of the dark thoughts swirling around. He couldn’t think about exploring new regions when his home was here. He was happy here. It was his mother’s home, it was Scarlett’s home, and it was his home.

 

Closing the curtains and penning a short note on the counter, Levi sighed, having barely slept. He had wanted to make amends with Scarlett before going to sleep, but she refused to even be in the same room as him. The rest of the night was spent isolated in his room, letting himself feel reassured by the muffled murmurs of conversation between Petra and Scarlett from behind the door. With a second sigh, he turned back around to face Petra, who was fast asleep on the sofa, and Scarlett, who was roosted on the floor beside her, giving Levi a glowering look. The Pidgeotto refused to approach him, even after Petra had calmed her down enough to stop screeching madly at the sight of him. And her wings had been hurt, as Levi had feared, so Petra stayed in order to keep Scarlett from hurting it again, if nothing else.

“I’m off, Scarlett,” he called out to her from the doorway, like he usually did. She did not chirp back. It left Levi in a very sour mood, and he snapped at Oluo in annoyance when he asked one too many times why Petra wasn’t coming in for the day.

His mood did not improve at all when, late in the afternoon, Eren had finally completed his regime and approached him for a battle for the badge.

“So how is Scarlett?” The tanned foreigner asked him, as they were preparing their pokemon for battle.

“Quite fucking peachy,” Levi snapped back, turning to return to his end of the field before he could hear another response. He knew he was lashing out at innocent people, but he was frustrated. He absolutely hated this gym. He couldn’t even redo the interiors so he was stuck with all these frills and shit. He couldn’t even go for some impromptu training without Scarlett losing her shit at him. He couldn’t even leave town, and he had to just sit and watch people like Eren come and go, gloating all their adventures in magical regions he’s never been to… and probably never will go to.

The referee blew his whistle to announce the start of their battle, and Levi immediately threw in Romeo, his Florges. He trilled in discontent, having never enjoyed battles, let alone being first in one.

“Disarming Voice!” Levi commanded, ignoring the grumbles. Levi was here, being gym leader to a gym he didn’t even like, so his pokemon were going to suffer with him.

The attack hit the Toxicroak he’d seen before, who barely flinched at the piercing sound. It hopped up high, preparing to attack, and Levi angrily yelled out attack after attack, barely using any of the tactics he’d practiced before.

“Petal Blizzard! Dazzling Gleam!”

The battle was over before he knew it, with Romeo frazzled and fainted in the center. Levi angrily tossed in his Klefki, commanding attacks without tactic, until that battle, too, was over in his defeat. His frustration grew, but his battle made no progress. Eren won a complete victory with just his Toxicroak, and Levi, his irrational rage growing tenfold, fumed as he stomped over to the center again to hand over the badge.

“What the fuck was that?” Eren spat out furiously the moment they were within speaking range, “You don’t battle like that, Levi! I’ve watched enough of your battles from the side to know you have more tact than this shitfest you’ve thrown today! Do I even really deserve this victory?”

“You won, so take the badge and go,” Levi snapped back at him, slamming the badge into the brunet’s hand. Eren, in turn, scoffed incredulously.

“I heard you were one of the toughest gym leaders in this region, so I was looking forward to today, but I guess you’re not as good as people make you out to be.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re weak, Levi,” Eren said, furrowing his eyebrows in frustration, “I don’t know why you went from that amazing show with your Greninja to this piece of Tauros’ shit, but you were weaker than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“I am not weak,” Levi retorted, “These aren’t my strongest pokemon, but with my team of choice, I could beat your Toxicroak before you can blink.”

“If you were truly a strong pokemon trainer, you’d be able to beat my Toxicroak no matter which pokemon you had,” Eren responded, eyes nearly sparkling with the amount of rage in them.

“It was a type disadv-“

“I don’t need excuses, Levi. I need you to give me a proper battle.”

Eren turned on his heels and stomped away, shoving his badge into his pocket, before turning back again.

“And by the way, your Florges doesn’t like battling. If you didn’t even know that, I don’t know how you got chosen to be a Gym Leader at all.”

And then he was gone before Levi could utter another word, so filled with rage he couldn’t put words to. The referee and the rest of the staff quietly made their way out, leaving him alone to seethe. Eren wasn’t wrong, though. He knew Florges didn’t like battling, but used him anyways. He didn’t really have any special affection for fairy pokemon, but he was running a fairy gym. He showed absolutely no enthusiasm for this type, yet Valerie had chosen him to be her successor as she retired. Why? Why was he chosen to be a Gym Leader at all?

Levi had never questioned it before. He was so desperate, he needed some way of making money while staying close to home because of Scarlett, because of his mom, because he couldn’t let go of home. He needed to stay there, he needed to make money and pay his bills, he needed that job. Was it his desperation that had given him the job? Did Valerie see it, and pity him, and give him the job? And then what? He kept running the Gym, but was he even worthy of it? Or was he going to continue to struggle with it, battling trainers like Eren who pick up on his lack of enthusiasm, until the organization decided to shut him down?

If it wasn’t for Scarlett, he wouldn’t have even taken this job. If Scarlett left home like normal pokemon and followed him, he could have gone anywhere. If Scarlett… But how could he blame Scarlett? In the end, it was his choice. It was his decision. He was the one who couldn’t go anywhere. He was the one who couldn’t leave. He was the one who couldn’t let go of his mom’s sudden passing.

 

It was long past Scarlett’s usual dinner time when Levi trudged back home. Levi felt his skin sag with the weight of his internal turmoils, his feet dragging across the floor like he’d been chained.  He opened the door, expecting another shrill outburst, and was surprised to find Scarlett sitting on the sofa, feathers ruffled and cheeks puffed, staring at him.

“Now, Scarlett, remember what we promised?”

Petra chided the Pidgeotto, gesturing to Levi. Scarlett huffed, before hopping off the sofa towards him. She nuzzled her head into his undercut the way she always did, nipping his earlobe just a little bit harder than usual, before crooning a welcome. She’d finally forgiven him, somehow, and Levi felt like this was the only thing that had gone right today.

“You look awful, Levi! Come sit, I’ll heat up dinner for you.”

Pulling him onto the sofa, she wrapped him up in the blanket she’d been using that morning and went to the kitchen. Levi cringed a bit at the thought that his sweat and grime was going to get on the blanket, but he didn’t feel like moving. And Scarlett, now having forgiven him, returned to being her affectionate self, already sitting beside him and cooing lowly in concern. Levi didn’t give her a response, only burying his face into the crook of her neck, breathing in the scent of the chamomile oil Petra had rubbed into her feathers.

The rumbling of Scarlett’s throat on his face felt nice, and for a while, he thought he could forget all the ugly thoughts he’d been harboring in his mind as of late.

“Now,” Petra set down a bowl of stew that smelled like some nameless herb into his idle hand, sitting down on the extra chair with her own bowl, “Tell me what’s wrong with you. You’re always moody, but today you look like you just snapped in half.”

Levi never exactly saw himself as the intimidating type, but plenty of people admitted that he didn’t look very approachable. And it wasn’t like he was the kind of person to prattle on about his life to everyone he met. Most people didn’t ask, so he didn’t talk. In the whole world, Petra was one of the few who asked him… And she was probably the only one Levi gave proper answers to.

He didn’t feel like talking yet, though, so he just groaned, just barely lifting his head to eye the stew she handed him. Despite her incredible skills with herbal remedies, she just never really got the hang of making proper human food. Oluo was going to have to get used to eating mud, if he was serious about her.

“Levi Ackerman, you will eat my stew and tell me what’s wrong, or I will be tempted to leave behind some Durant repellants in your drawers!”

Seriously, Petra could not do “anger”. Her eyes were just a bit too kind looking, her cheeks too pink and freckled, her frown too pouty and cute. It was no wonder that everyone liked her; no one could stay angry.

The Durant repellants, however, were a threat Levi did not want to risk.

“Okay,” he relented, grabbing the spoon and swallowing a murky mouthful, “I just had a bad day today.”

Petra was very unamused with his explanation, and Levi glanced over at Scarlett warily before continuing. He really hoped that she would not feel hurt.

“I battled Eren today. It was…”

“Catastrophic, I know. Oluo would not shut up about it,” Petra rolled her eyes, swinging her spoon around.

“The thing is, I was venting my anger at him, and I just…”

Petra hummed, swallowing another mouthful of her stew, before she set down her bowl entirely and turned to face him properly.

“Levi, you do this thing, like right now, where you tell yourself that you’re not allowed to be frustrated. Why not? Of course you are. Erwin’s out there working with the Survey Corps to improve the safety of pokemon all over the world, and Hanji’s researching new medical discoveries everywhere. Wasn’t it once your dream, too, to go and see all the different pokemon out there? Wasn’t it your goal to become the next Audric, taking all the championships by storm? But you’re here, in a Gym, training the same pokemon over and over again.”

So what if he had a far-fetched dream once? Not everyone can become Audric. He wasn’t even sure if he had the strength enough to become champion of so many Leagues like the legendary trainer had, let alone have the opportunity to even get there. The bland repetition of Gym battles had muddled his sharply honed skills so much that he had all but lost his confidence entirely.

“Well, I can’t just go like they can, you know? My home is here, and Scarlett is here, and I can’t leave her behind again.”

“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” Petra frowned, leaning forward just a little bit, “You think that if you tell me this is all for Scarlett’s sake, that I’ll believe it and let you continue to tie yourself down. You’re not doing this for her, you’re doing it for yourself. Do you know why she waits by the window all day? Scarlett’s not stupid, she knows Kuchel is gone. She waits for you, so you know she’s there. She doesn’t want you to think that because Kuchel is gone, you’re alone. You’re not alone, you know. You keep all these thoughts and emotions to yourself, but it’s not doing anyone any good.”

It was for Scarlett’s sake, Levi almost retorted back, but at the sight of the boxes surrounding the sofa, he lost the words to speak. He was the one who couldn’t give away those boxes. He was the one who couldn’t bear to think about the Pidgeotto without thinking about his mom. He was the one who couldn’t leave the house.

“What if you had talked to Scarlett about your emotions?” Petra continued, “What if you talked to me? Don’t you think something would have changed if you had?”

“And what would have changed? Scarlett leaving the house? Me miraculously feeling better? Or my mom coming back?”

Levi knew he was being irrationally defensive, but he couldn’t help it.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Petra exasperatedly rolled her eyes, snarking back at him irritably, “Maybe I would have taken over the Laverre Gym and adopted Scarlett and called Erwin to tell him you’re ready to hear about a job offer?”

“And you think I’d be fine with you taking on my burden just because you feel sorry for me?”

“ ‘Burden’? That sort of thought is exactly why you’re unhappy with your life, Levi. If you’d talked to me about it, you’d know that I would love to take over the Gym. If you paid attention to Scarlett, you’d see that she’s always looking at you, listening to you. Not out the window for Kuchel, not at me. You. She’s not Kuchel’s pokemon anymore, she’s yours. Have you even bothered to take out her pokeball?”

He hadn’t. It was still in his mom’s old bedroom, on her bedside table like it always was, gathering dust like everything else in there.. The bed, the shelves, the memories.

“You know who watched you locking yourself in your house for months, doing heaven knows what in here, maybe crying until you fell asleep? Nobody has seen you at your most vulnerable the way Scarlett did. She’s waiting for you to move on, Levi, not herself.”

Levi stabbed his spoon at a random potato in his bowl, his mind whirling with emotions. So what? So what if he couldn’t move on? It wasn’t so easy for him to just up and leave like she suggested. He couldn’t just leave behind all the memories of his mother. If he did, she’d really be gone. She’d be gone forever. And he’d never see her again.

“Do you even know why Scarlett was so angry yesterday?”

“I was late, so she was worried.”

Petra sighed, getting up to pace back and forth, her cheeks turning pink with anger.

“Okay, you’re really pissing me off now, Levi. Sure, yeah, she was worried. She thought you were leaving her. Do you even know how much she’d love to follow you to the Gym? Do you even really look after her? Or are you so stuck in your own head and your own thoughts that you don’t see how restless she gets? She wasn’t livid just because you were late, Levi. She was livid because she thought you finally did it.”

“Did what?”

“Killed yourself.”

The tremor in Petra’s voice prompted Levi to finally lift his head to look at her, and the look she gave him with tear filled eyes made him think that Scarlett wasn’t the only one who had been holding onto that fear. She was right. He didn’t know that Scarlett felt that way, and he stuck to his daily routine so religiously that there were barely any conversations. The daily routines got him to believe that things were normal, that this was peace, that this was happiness… There was no one at peace or feeling happy in this pattern he’d created for the rest of his life.

Scarlett cooed, nudging his arm a little with her beak.

“I… I didn’t…”

“That’s exactly it, Levi. You didn’t talk to any of us, so you don’t know how worried we get. I wanted to give you your space and time to heal, but clearly you haven’t been doing so well yourself.”

Petra got up, sniffling as she wiped her cheeks, grabbing the barely eaten bowls of stew.

“I’m sorry, Petra. I was wrong.”

“You were,” Petra shot back, the anger in her tone dissipating, “and I want you to think about my offer. It still stands. I know Scarlett would love more than anything to go with you, but long journeys would be taxing for her now, given the state of her arthritis. I could care for her, and she trusts me. And, I hope, you trust me too. So just consider it, please.”

 

For three days, Levi and Petra never brought up the topic again. Scarlett’s wing healed eventually, left with just her usual arthritic aches. Levi, with Petra’s help, finally called the donation center to pick up the boxes of his mother’s old stuff. He was barely able to watch as the last box got loaded up into the truck, but once the truck had pulled out from the driveway for good, he couldn’t help the feeling of overwhelming relief wash over his emotional aches. He stayed away from the Gym entirely for the three days, cleaning out the house properly with the boxes out of the way. Scarlett could not help too much, but her Gust sure helped in ridding the house of dust and bringing in fresh air again. Levi hadn’t even realized how musty the air inside his home had gotten all those years. When all the chores were done, Levi spent some time just sitting with Scarlett, and talking with her. Properly talking, this time. He took her down to the local park and let her enjoy the sunny day with his other pokemon. He apologized to Romeo as well, who was still sulking over his singed floral coiffure, by helping prune his damaged flowers together.

When he finally returned to the Gym, Levi was feeling a lot more content than he’d ever felt in two years. Petra had already arrived, so the doors were open and the gym cleaned out. Scarlett was with him this time, in her pokeball for the first time in years, and Levi nearly smiled at the thought, bouncing up the stairs alongside Lucy. He had thought about Petra’s words from before, and after many talks with Scarlett, they had come to the same conclusion: Scarlett was much better off staying here, but Levi could not stay any longer. He’d already, discreetly, applied for the transfer of ownership for both the Gym and his home to Petra, who had mentioned several more times that she was more than happy to take over. That was mainly why he had returned to the Gym after only three days off.

“Levi!”

He turned to see Eren jogging up the stairs to catch up with him, dressed in another fashion abomination. The floral shirt was absolutely blinding, and Levi narrowed his eyes a bit in disgust.

“Um,” Eren eloquently started from a few steps below, eyes darting a bit nervously before they looked up towards him, “I’m really sorry about what I said-“

“No, don’t apologize. You were right. I was a shitty Gym Leader that day, and you did not deserve that sort of treatment. I should be the one to apologize.”

“No, I do,” Eren insisted stubbornly, “I talked to Mikasa about it, and I realized that you must have been struggling with your Scarlett. I probably offended you somewhere along the way too, I have a tendency to do that…”

“No seriously, I’m the one at fault-“

“I’m the one who was rude to you when you were stressed out, so just let me apologize for that, at least.”

At this rate, it didn’t seem like their conversation would lead anywhere else, both of them trying to apologize and take the blame, so Levi just nodded quietly. He still felt a little bit awkward, facing the foreign man again, especially after finally coming to terms with his envy of the man’s adventures. Just the sight of him brought back the memories of incredible pokemon he’d never known existed, the adventures the foreign man must have had.

“So,” Levi coughed, fiddling with his hoodie strap, “Where will you go next?”

“I’ll continue on to get all my badges, I suppose. Mikasa and I are heading down to Dendemille town today, actually. Um… That’s why I came. To apologize. And say goodbye.”

Of course, Levi thought to himself. There was nothing holding the foreign man from leaving this town, and as much as he would have liked more time to make proper amends with the man, this was inevitable. To Eren, Levi was going to be just another blurb in his long tale of adventure, a fleeting acquaintance he may not even remember… Even if for Levi, Eren had changed his life entirely. For him, Eren was someone he would not forget for a very long time.

“The winds are strong in Dendemille town, so watch your hat when you get there.”

The tanned man grinned.

“I lost it the moment I got off the train at Couriway Town already,” he nonchalantly responded. With a huff, Levi’s lips cracked into a smile.

“Of course you did.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Eren sighed and extended his arm out towards Levi.

“Then, I guess this is goodbye, for now. Maybe, if I have time, I will come back to visit you once more?”

Levi, slipping his hand into Eren’s for a handshake, decided not to tell the foreign man about his decisions.

“Sure, if you have time,” He shrugged. The Sableyed Asshole wasn’t going to have time, Levi knew. Most trainers were too engrossed in their adventures to return, save for a rare few from time to time. He wasn’t going to remember Levi once he hit Dendemille Town, visited the landmarks of Anistar City, or discovered the Pokemon Village near Snowbelle City. He just wasn’t going to have the time to remember him anymore. Levi would be all but forgotten in Eren’s mind in the next few weeks or so.

“If I have time,” Eren agreed with a smile, squeezing his hand.

 

“Are you sure you have all the potions? I packed some extra just in case, you know how sometimes foreign medicine just isn’t the right fit-“

“Potions are the same everywhere-“

“And I packed some extras of my strongest healing potions, and if the Caster doesn’t work overseas, I wrote down my address here-“

“Petra,” Levi interrupted, grabbing the petite girl by her shoulders to stop her from giving herself an aneurism, “I’ve lived next door to you since we were kids. I think I would know your address.”

“Right,” she chirped, clearly agitated over being stopped midway, “But you still need extra blankets, and I know Puddle sometimes has moisture issues, so I added in some ointment in case he rashes up or something, and some medicine for you, too, of course, and-“

“I’ll be fine, Petra,” Levi repeated himself again, Scarlett chortling behind him, “Geez, you’re worse than my mom when I left home at 10.”

Pulling his bag away from her fidgeting hands, he zipped it up and hauled it onto his back, slightly groaning at the amount of medicine Petra had shoved inside in the time it took for Levi to use the bathroom. She was a fussy and caring person by nature, but sometimes her compassion was a little too much.

“I know you will be, I’m just worried.”

“I know. I will call you or write to you whenever I can, and if there are any problems, I will let you know.”

“Your house will always be here, so come back from time to time, too,” Petra added, grabbing another jacket and handing it over to Levi, even though he had three in his backpack already, “Scarlett and I will be waiting for you.”

The newly evolved Pidgeot cooed as she pecked Levi affectionately on the head. Once Levi’s traveling arrangements had been finalized, she had allowed herself to transform, becoming much more stronger than before, proving to him that she would be fine even if he wasn’t there anymore. She had always been the stronger one, of the two of them.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Levi stroked the soft red feathers on her throat, “With a whole new set of stories to tell you. Visit Mom from time to time, okay?”

“Oluo said he could take you to the station, so if you just wait a bit-“

“No.”

“But-“ Petra tried again.

“No. I’m faster on a bike than he is in his fucking car, so tell him to pick up my bike at the station instead.”

The new Gym Leader sighed in resignation, nodding.

“I’ll call you when I get there,” Levi said to her, giving her a quick hug as he took a look around his house one more time. All the boxes of his mother’s old stuff were gone, nearly all the furniture had been sold off on a yard sale, and the only other new changes were the wallpaper, new brighter patterns plastered on over the old faded ones his mother used to have. It looked nothing like the home he used to know, but Scarlett’s usual perch was still there by the window, and some picture frames of his childhood were nailed back up onto the wall by the door. He could still imagine his mom standing in the kitchen, her knitting basket sitting by the sofa, the frayed rug with Durant-bitten holes… None of those were there anymore, but in his heart, they were never gone. And that was all the reassurance he needed.

“Don’t forget to look for Ender when you get to the ferry! He’s the one who’s supposed to guide you to the Island, and I don’t want you to get lost-“

“Okay, Mom,” Levi rolled his eyes as Scarlett trilled in amusement.

With one last tight hug and a kiss for Scarlett, Levi Ackerman finally turned around and left with the setting sun, just like his mother’s favorite protagonist.


End file.
